It is so hard to believe, but I have been
living in Kona for 6 weeks already! Time is really flying by so fast. I am
officially done with half of the Lecture Phase of DTS. That means, I only have
6 weeks left in Hawaii and then I’m off to Europe for Outreach! (Outreach is the Missions part of YWAM and
I will be going to London in July and Berlin in August. I will return to Hawaii
the first week of September and back to California on September 8th.
*I need $3500.00 for the rest of my Outreach Fees, which is due June 1st,
so please ask God how you can support me- through prayer and/or finances)
I’m not sure where to begin about summarizing what has happened in the last 6
weeks and what God has been teaching me, but I will do the best I can and then
expand on each week more in depth as time permits and I’m able to catch up on
blogging.
When I first arrived in Kona, I was very
excited. I knew that I was supposed to be here and I was ready for the change.
God prepared my heart to come here, but I wasn’t prepared for all the heart
surgery that was to come during the last six weeks. Pride told me that this was
only going to be a season of refreshing and equipping without any challenges. Little
did I know there were plenty of things in my heart that I didn’t even realize needed
to change and things regarding my identity in Christ that weren’t grounded and
have come to the surface since I arrived. God has been especially teaching me
the following things: I am a striver, and always do do do. He wants me to break
that and trust Him to guide me with my time and teach me to hear His voice and
obey that so that I am not overwhelmed by all the things I want to do. God has
shown me that I depend on others so much and I need to depend on Him. He’s
convicting me when I’m using my cell phone or updating facebook too often and
has been helping me communicate less with people so that I can focus on the
present, which is being in YWAM, building relationships with those in my dts,
and especially investing in my relationship with Him. God is teaching me that I
need to make Him my top priority. God is teaching me that each day is different
and won’t look the same, so I can’t plan out my days or expect the following
day to be the same as the previous day. He’s teaching me to lay down my
expectations of how my days will go and stay connected to Him so that I can be
attentive to His voice and act on it. He’s teaching me how valuable the Word of
God is and imprinting a desire like never before to memorize scripture so that it
is planted in my heart. He’s teaching me how to fight in a spiritual battle by
no longer being passive. He’s teaching me to pick up the only offensive weapon,
which is the Word of God (the sword of the Spirit) and also use my shield of
faith which is able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the enemy. He’s
teaching me to put on the armor or God daily so I can stand in the battle. (See
Ephesians 6) He’s teaching me that life isn’t easy and won’t always be, but He
is always with me and by my side, helping me through the challenges. He’s
teaching me to renew my mind and speak truth over the lies. He’s teaching me to
memorize scripture and believe it in my heart, not just memorize it. He’s
teaching me that all I need is Him, nothing else is sufficient. Nobody and
nothing can meet my needs in the way that Jesus can. I’m learning to turn to
Him and not others or things that might temporarily bring satisfaction. I’m
learning to focus on today and today alone. I’m learning that God is able to do
big things and He has incredibly big plans for me in the future, but that
doesn’t make me any different than anyone else. I need to be humble and
recognize pride when it creeps in and seek forgiveness. I’m learning that I
need to enjoy the process of being refined into who God created me to be to the
best of my ability. I’m learning to be content where I’m at and enjoy where God
has me right now. I’m learning to be present in every single moment and not
miss out by focusing on something else or doing something else. I’m learning to
give my burdens to God and literally leave them in His hands. I’m learning to
pray more because that is all I have and can do in certain moments. I’m
learning to trust God. I’m learning more about God’s character. I’m learning how to live with seven other
girls. I’m learning to make sure I get myself right with God daily so that I
can be a blessing to those around me. I’m learning to be disciplined with my
quiet time every morning. I’m learning that I need a lot of quiet time with
Jesus. I’m learning to be disciplined to be active and go jogging a few days a
week. I’m learning to love people where they are at and not expect them to be
where I want them to be or do what I want them to do.
Week 1 we had Andy Byrd speak to us. He is
the founder of my dts, Fire & Fragrance and he has such a radical passion
and fire for Jesus. He empowered us to rise up. His theme was a radical pursuit
of Jesus through a revelation of His love which leads to a revival of the
heart, reformation of life, and reformation of the church. Week 2, Rhonda
Barker was our guest speaker. Her husband is my school leader, Aaron Barker.
She is a first grade teacher on campus at the Learning Center and super sweet.
She taught us how to hear God’s voice and the prophetic. She shared with us
ways that God speaks to us, steps to prepare our hearts to hear from God,
purposes of the prophetic, ways we can protect from deception and error with
the prophetic, and etiquette when hearing from God and praying for others. Aaron
spoke to us on the last day of class regarding Intercession by defining
intercession and sharing with us the qualities of an effective intercessor as
well as the ten steps of intercession by Joy Dawson. Week 3 was Corporate week
so we had class in Ohana Court and heard from various speakers but mostly the
founders of YWAM, Loren and Darlene Cunningham. The main theme of the week was
empowering us to pursue our dreams and believe God for the more that He has for
us. They shared many testimonies about God’s faithfulness in their lives to do
many supernatural things throughout as they pursued God and His plan for their
lives. Week 4 was Pure Heart week. Tom and Donna Cole who wrote the book Pure Heart- Restoration of the Heart through
the Beatitudes were our guest speakers. They encouraged us not to take
notes, so I did my best not to, but from what I can recall, each day we focused
on something different. Each day we covered something different but the themes
were Mother Wound, Father Wound, Feminity and Masculinity (healing from past
relationships), and Forgiveness. Week 5 was Holy Spirit Week with Amy Sollars. Amy
is a prophet and highly anointed in the prophetic, but prefers to be called a
lover of Jesus and people. She shared her testimony and then taught on the
Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, the prophetic, and how to
use these gifts in an appropriate and effective manner. Each day we had time
for ministry where we worshipped and she prayed over us and on the last day she
spent the afternoon teaching the women about envy and comparison. During week 6
and our guest speaker was Scotty Kessler and the main theme was studying the
Bible. He gave us many tools to add to our toolbox for evangelism, ways/plans
in which we can study the Bible, and how to have a well-rounded prayer life.
The most important thing that I learned through Scotty’s teaching was the stand
on the promises of God (the Word of God) and how valuable the Bible truly is. I
learned the importance of memorizing scripture and planting it in your heart so
that you can use it as an offensive weapon against spiritual attack as well as
to defend your faith and what you believe.
Although this experience thus far has been
different than I ever imagined, I am so thankful for all that God is teaching
me and how much I am growing through it all. I know that it has had its ups and
downs and I’ve experienced daily battles, I am being strengthened through it
and I am grateful. I don’t want to go home the same person that I was when I
came out here. I want to be changed. I want to be transformed. I want to be
stronger. I want to be confident. I want to be bold. I want to be courageous.
But I also know I can’t be perfect. So I’m praying that I am able to learn
everything God is teaching me and bring it home with me and out into the
mission field in the future. I know that this season is intended to be a season
of intimacy with me and Jesus and I want to make the most of it. I want to
enjoy this season with Him and embrace every moment that is before me. My prayer
is that I can continue to be thankful for the things God is teaching me despite
the challenges and painful they might be. I know that life is not going to be
easy and to be honest; my life hasn’t been that hard. I have been so blessed
growing up in a loving home with parents who have been married for 31 years and
not any financial struggles. I am thankful for this blessing but now I am
learning how to work through challenges in life by leaning on my true comforter
and rock, Jesus Christ. This is the best lesson I can learn and I know it will
totally benefit me in the long run.
Thank you to all my supporters. I am able to
be here and grow in God and learn all of the above because of YOU. Praying the
Lord blesses you for your obedience to Him and support to me.
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